This must be the place: Bringing the world to your doorstep

Last July, I was at a crossroads. Being a freelance writer for a few years, my usual summer work dried up before the warm weather even arrived. The publications I was contributing to in Upstate New York were losing money, rapidly, with their freelance budgets being the first casualty of a haphazard newspaper industry.

So, I started looking for work, everywhere. Using JournalismJobs.com, I scoured the site, clicking on positions in the deep woods of Maine, rural North Dakota, suburban Ohio, wherever. More than 100 resumes were probably submitted during that month. Eventually, I came across an opening at The Smoky Mountain News. It was a feature writer position, covering all of Western North Carolina, seeking out all of the things that make it unique.

I was intrigued. I had been to Asheville before, and driving through the area left an impression of interesting people amid a beautiful landscape. So, I applied, sending all of my notable clips, references and resume, and waited.

The next morning, a reply from The Smoky Mountain News was sitting in my inbox. They liked the clips I had sent and were interested in doing an interview over the phone. It went well. The next step was an in-person interview.

Publisher Scott McLeod wanted to meet me, but I was 1,016 miles and 16 hours of driving away.

Screw it, I said to myself. I decided to make the trek the following week to Haywood County. Leaving on a Thursday afternoon, I drove straight through the night, fueled on rocket fuel truck stop coffee and endless hours of NPR on the radio. The next day, I rolled into Waynesville – dirty, tired, hungry and delirious from the journey. The clock said 2:35 p.m., with my interview set for 3 p.m.

McLeod had a chuckle when I showed up on time and exhausted from New York. The interview went smoothly, but one last test remained – I had to prove I could write on the spot. He handed me a pen, notepad and camera, and said, “Ok, go get me two stories about Folkmoot.”

I thought, “What the hell is Folkmoot?”

McLeod gave me a quick rundown of the festival, pointed to Main Street and shut the front door of the office, leaving me standing there, wondering what to do. I turned towards the commotion on Main Street and immersed myself in the melodic chaos.

It was a mesmerizing weekend. I found myself amid a plethora of talented Southern Appalachian musicians and cloggers alongside innumerable international dance groups. Watching these two entities come together as one was inspiring. One moment I was interviewing the Talija Folk Dance Troupe of Serbia, the next, eating dinner with the Whitireia Performing Arts from New Zealand or tapping my foot to the sounds of right-from-the-source Appalachian mountain music.

“Soon, a sea of people were all moving together; everyone smiling. There they were, teenagers from every corner of the globe, standing as one, a place where there were no borders, language differences or societal conflicts,” I wrote. “It seems the only true currency here is a high-five of appreciation between foreign entities, now fast friends thanks to the common bond of rhythm and performance.”

These were the exact experiences I had been chasing after, things that sparked my initial interest in journalism years earlier. After two days, I had found and written my stories. By Monday morning, I shook McLeod’s hand and accepted the position. And thus, the journey continues. Onward and upward.

Hot picks

1: Country megastar Miranda Lambert rolls into Harrah’s Cherokee on July 19.

2: Broadway musical “Brigadoon” hits the stage at HART in Waynesville from July 18 through Aug. 4.

3: Indie-rock act Kovacs and the Polar Bear perform at Western Carolina University on July 25.

4: Leonard Adkins presents his new comprehensive guidebook about the Blue Ridge Parkway at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva on July 22.

5: Bluegrass ensemble Frogtown plays during the Franklin Folk Festival on July 20.

The Naturalist's Corner

My family and I made a quick run up to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway around dusk last Sunday (July 19) to get a peek at some celestial luminaries. Venus and Jupiter joined the waxing crescent moon on the western horizon. They danced and played hide and seek amidst layered clouds whose purple backs touched the night while their bellies bathed in the last yellow and orange rays of the sun falling over the western horizon. It was a beautiful, tranquil setting.